Hissar, Apr 14 (UNI) Amid the ongoing violent anti-Waqf Amendment Act protests in Murshidabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that bringing in the amendment was necessary for the protection of the rights of Muslim women, Dalits and Adivasis.
Speaking on the occasion of the foundation laying ceremony of the new terminal building in Hissar, the PM lashed out at the previous Congress regimes, saying that the national party had, through the 'Waqf' act, handed over the lands of the poor, Dalits, Adivasis to the mafias.
The PM claimed that his government had made necessary amendments to the act so that no one could snatch land from an Adivasi. He added that the step (Waqf Amendment Act) was necessary for the protection of rights of Muslim women, Dalits and Adivasis.
His comments came as Murshidabad in West Bengal has seen three deaths due to widespread protests and arson over the Waqf Amendment Act, prompting the Centre to rush in added paramilitary forces to quell the situation.
The Prime Minister also lashed out against the Congress, and said the party has violated the spirit of the Constitution and insulted Dr BR Ambedkar.
The PM said the Congress has time and again violated the spirit of the Constitution and insulted Dr Ambedkar. He said that it was the Congress which stopped Dr. Ambedkar from entering the Parliament on two occasions and his ideas were sidelined.
He accused the Congress of bringing in religion-based reservation to appease its vote bank, whereas Dr Ambedkar was against the same.
He said that the holy land of Haryana, associated with Lord Krishna and the Mahabharat period has
been connected with the land of Rama, Ayodhya.
Modi, who also saw off the inaugural flight from Hissar to Ayodhya, said the new terminal building was not only about flight connectivity but a symbol of faith, culture and national unity.
The PM said that this was India, which started with the dream of enabling people wearing slippers to
sit in an aeroplane, and that dream was now being fulfilled.
He said that cities like Hissar were connected with those religious and cultural places where it took days to reach.
"This initiative will boost pilgrimage, tourism, trade and investment," Modi asserted.
He said that the new terminal building would increase the passenger capacity. Initially flights to Ayodhya, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Jammu would operate and in future other cities will be added.
He said that the airport would serve 21 lakh passengers per annum. Modi said that till 2014, there were only 74 airports in the country but today it has crossed 150, adding that 500 new routes were operative under the Udan scheme and the connectivity of small cities has improved.
Earlier, Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini welcomed the PM traditionally and said that Hisar airport
was a historic move in the direction of the development of the state
.
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